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** spoiler alert ** I loved this one. It was the perfect book for me at this moment. I don't know why. It gripped me even more than the first book. I love the darkness and the gloom of it but at the same time the pop of excitement and the evil lurking all around.
Even the Mother I grew to like!
While in the first book all the characters just felt like ideas on page, like outlines, in this one they all came alive. I felt for Fuschia, I rooted for Flay, I was apalled by Irma dnd the professor, I understood Titus and I even felt sympathy for Steerpike at the moment of his death .
It hooked me, it amazed me with language and made me scared at times. A 5star book without a doubt.
Even the Mother I grew to like!
While in the first book all the characters just felt like ideas on page, like outlines, in this one they all came alive. I felt for Fuschia, I rooted for Flay, I was apalled by Irma dnd the professor, I understood Titus and I even felt sympathy for Steerpike
It hooked me, it amazed me with language and made me scared at times. A 5star book without a doubt.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars
Just wow. Wonderfully gothic and a great study on character and world-building. The only reason I docked points off was because I found some plot lines more interesting than others and felt unsatisfied by some character resolutions.
Just wow. Wonderfully gothic and a great study on character and world-building. The only reason I docked points off was because I found some plot lines more interesting than others and felt unsatisfied by some character resolutions.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reads like fantasy although there is no magic whatsoever. Every page is a reverie.
Gormenghast is as charming and weird as [b:Titus Groan|39063|Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1)|Mervyn Peake|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327871204l/39063._SY75_.jpg|3250394]. Peake's gorgeous prose is just as effective in bringing this gothic world to life in its slow moments as it is in delivering thrilling cinematic set pieces . The treatment some of the female characters get leaves a bit of a sour taste, at they are, quite explicitly, used as just a narrative tool to further the growth of the male protagonist . The Countess is a welcome exception: she grows quite a lot from the previous installment and becomes a balanced and strong character even while playing a part (the "cold, heartless mother") that would usually get her relegated to villainy.
Spoiler
(the duel in Titus Groan; the standoff in the flooded castle in Gormenghast)Spoiler
(this is particularly infuriating in the Thing's case, as she never gets the chance to become a fully fleshed out character)
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not quite as amazing as the first, but still a 5 star read. The cast & castle undergoes some changes that make for an interesting read, but some of the magic is lost from the first book. The writing is dense and extraordinary, and it is abundantly clear that Mervyn Peake was a playwright. The descriptions of space and people are very visual, and there are pages dedicated to depictions of landscapes and empty rooms. While not fast paced or rousing, they still evoke a really significant sense of awe.
I never thought that I would be giving 5 stars to a book with ~3 pages describing how dead birds look in the snow, but here we are.
Favorite quote: “If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings”
I never thought that I would be giving 5 stars to a book with ~3 pages describing how dead birds look in the snow, but here we are.
Favorite quote: “If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings”
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated